Sand Castle
by Sebastina Michaelis
Summary: A lot of sand has been collecting in Tartarus lately and Hades is not amused. The source of his problems literally falls out of the sky and now he's stuck housing his guest until he can get him back home.


Sand Castle

_Where is all this sand coming from?_ Hades frowned, eyeing a growing pile of sand in the corner of his throne room with contempt. At first he hadn't thought much of it. In fact he thought it had just been a spilled over salt shaker or something that had left his hands feeling grainy. The wretched stuff was starting to collect in all the corners, like there was some invisible force slowly dropping it off grain by grain. He had even convinced himself he had eaten some of the grainy substance. If this was Poseidon's idea of a joke, Hades was certainly not amused. For the most part, he was content in his place behind these rock walls. Even if he was to set foot in the human realm, the beach or the desert were the last places he would think of going.

The small granules stuck everywhere, and it was getting to the point where he wanted nothing more that to thoroughly sweep and dust every square inch of the castle without having to leave the safety of his bath. It seemed to be the only place without sand; aside from what he had tracked in there.

A soft sigh escaped him and he tried to ignore the commotion going on in the courtyard. Lately Cerberus had been getting… _acquainted_ with more and more souls that wandered a little too close to the castle gates. There wasn't really anything else to do. It wasn't the first time something like this had happened, and it wasn't going to be the last.

Dingy, grey light spilled into the large, cavernous room, as the door was thrown open, and one of Hades' soldiers entered. Hades tore his eyes away from the slowly growing pile of sand in the corner of the room, and watched as his underling rushed to get all of his words out. "Your Highness, a large beast is attacking the castle!"

After a moments hesitation, Hades stood, lacking the same sense of urgency as this soldier seemed to feel. He was more frustrated than panicked. For the time being he kept silent, and made his way into the courtyard. Cerberus charged across the open space, a low growl ripping through one of it's heads as it made contact with a slightly larger scorpion. The head in the middle barked, while the one on the right tried sinking its fangs into one of the Scorpions pincers. Hades voice remained calm when he spoke, but a slight tightness around his mouth and subtle sharpness associate with certain letters implied he was everything but. "How did you and you men manage to let something this big get so close to the castle?"

"That's the thing, sir, it just showed up!"

Hades knew he would have felt a portal that large open, especially this close to him. If there was one thing he always knew, it was the comings, and very limited goings, of everyone in his kingdom. "Something that big doesn't show up. So let me ask, _again_, how you and your Captain allowed something so large to slip through your defenses."

The soldier fell silent and stepped away from his silently fuming commander.

Cerberus was knocked to the ground, sending a shockwave through the weathered cobblestone. Blood dripped from the Scorpion's stingerless tail, as it lashed out at the fallen dog. Whoever sent it here obviously hadn't wanted to cause any harm to beast. Hades didn't even flinch when the final head hit the ground a matter of inches from him. The middle head caught the tail as the scorpion went to strike again, and the scorpion hissed in pain.

Cerberus released the scorpion and stood, shaking itself. The scorpion backed away as Cerberus charged for it again. There was a change in the atmosphere, the air grew heavy and the temperature raised just a few degrees. A torrent of wing was whipped up into a spiraling vortex several yards from where Hades was standing. All the sand that had been spread about the castle the past week gathered and a portal finally opened, spat out a disgruntled man, then disappeared as suddenly as it had arrived.

Sand rained down around him as his head slowly morphed back into that of a human, and he shrunk in size. Hades couldn't quite place the animal, seeming to be a bunch of random pieces that had been thrown together. he couldn't help but to think of one of Typhon's creations. Although to the man before him it wasn't strange at all. It was a creature made after his own likeness, and nothing could ever be compared to his self-titled 'Set Animal'.

Hades took a step back and looked over the intruder. His dark brown hair was perpetually windswept, and his eyes were the color of a desert storm. His limbs were too long for his body (although he was just a few inches shorter than Hades) and despite his subtle tan, Hades thought he was a bit too pale.

Set. on the other hand, seemed unaware of Hades, or was choosing to ignore him, as he leapt up from where he was dumped on the ground and called forth his scorpion. Cerberus started to lope after the scorpion, but Hades stopped him with a simple hand gesture. He wanted to see what the intruder was planning before making his move. Set clicked his tongue when he saw blood dripping from his pet's wounds and rubbed it's head. "My poor darling what did the mean beast do to you?" It hissed softly and showed the man its tail before he added, "The bad lady went and cut your tail off too?" A devilish smirk spread across his face, seeming out of place with his babying tone, "I think she might need to lose a few feathers, or maybe even a wing, then we'll see how she likes it."

The scorpion hissed again, and started shrinking as the man held his hand out. It stopped when it was about the size of a large cat and climbed up Set's long arm and onto his back. Set looked around his new, unfamiliar surroundings, seeming unimpressed with the many cave-like qualities and frowned. Cerberus' growling finally caught his attention and he looked to where Hades' was slowly approaching.

Hades stopped when he was a few feet away and folded his arms over his chest, straightening to his full six feet. "What are you doing here?"

Set looked around before concluding, "I don't know. Unless that _wretch_ of a woman did something I don't recall opening a portal to a place as dreary as this. Which brings the questions of _where_ is this?"

Set wandered in a small circle around Hades' examining the high wall surrounding the courtyard and the stables in the far corner. Thankfully it had been empty during the fight or Hades would have lost several of his prized horses. He passes directly under Cerberus, and Hades found himself resisting an urge to tell his dog to sit. He didn't like how this stranger was conducting himself after having been literally dropped out of the sky and into his home. This was one of his visitors he was eager to get rid of sooner rather than later. Cerberus growled again, but Set paid him no mind and returned to his original spot in front of Hades.

Hades was asserting himself as the one in charge of the situation, and ignored Set's question. "It's impossible for someone to accidentally teleport here. You must have died."

"No. When I die Ammit is going to devour my heart before it touches the judgement scales. My siblings like to forget all the good I've done for them." Set paused thoughtfully then added, "I had just whipped up the most wonderful of storms to get back at _her_ for cutting my baby's tail off. After all, if one of her _buzzards_ got caught up in the mix it wouldn't be _my_ fault. But then I was here before it was even in full swing."

Hades couldn't decide how he felt about the stranger. He seemed childish and impulsive, which were both things he would rather not have to deal with. He decided to answer Set's previous question and stated, "Tartarus."

"What's that?"

"Where you are."

Set's eyes darted around and he frowned again. "I don't know what you're talking about. Assuming this is your realm, what do you do here?"

"I watch over the souls of the dead, and make sure they don't leave."

"The afterlife?" Set crinkled his nose in distaste and took his injured scorpion in his arms. "I certainly don't know what you people do in your spare time, but this place is dreadful. Did Apep get his hands on this place?" His voice had taken on a slightly patronizing tone, but that was mostly because he was distracting himself with his pet. Set was making it obvious that he would have rather been doing anything other than figuring out why he was here. The dust had settled and he was only focusing half his attention on trying to open a portal back to his own realm so he could return to his storm. Set figured the sooner he got back, the sooner he was going to have to deal with Nephthys and he wasn't mentally prepared for that.

"I don't know what you meant by that, but are you responsible for all of this?" Hades gestured to all the sand piled around them.

Set took a moment to look where he pointed then shrugged. "It might have fell in with me. I _am_ the God of Chaos and Desert Storms."

Hades wasn't impressed with what he thought was a false title, and briefly considered feeding him to Cerberus. But if he wasn't bluffing. he'd rather not have to deal with the fallout of killing a God. "How about your real name."

Set dipped his head in greeting and dropped his scorpion to the ground. "Set. And you are…?" Set's eyes roamed over Hades as he tried to decide whether or not he liked the ruler of this 'Tartarus'. Even if he wasn't particularly fond of this realm, set had to admit it's ruled was attractive, with his angular features and calculating eyes. His translucent skin was a sharp contrast to his jet black hair. For the time being, color Set intrigued.

"Hades. Now I kindly request you return where you came form and take all this sand with you."

Testing Hades patience, Set shook his head and sent more sand flying out of his hair before smirking. "What's wrong? A little sand never hurt anybody." Set was casually leaving out all the people who had died in his spitefully created storms, and bounced back a step.

Hades frowned and didn't offer a verbal response. Cerberus' growling was sufficient enough. Set rolled his eyes and took a deep breath. Sand started swirling around him again as he focused his energy into returning to his realm. Hades took a step back as the ground vibrated, but everything came to an abrupt stop and Set growled in frustration. He tried a few more times before kicking over a pile of sand and cursing 'that wretched woman' under his breath. Set huffed then turned back to Hades' jokingly asking, "I don't suppose you know a transdimensional teleportation spell, do you?"

"Do you really want to run the risk of being stranded in the wrong world? I don't know where you came from, but it's not like I can just reopen the energy trail because your powers have been severed. Or at the very least suppressed.

Set fell silent while he weighed his options. Now he could personally oversee the healing of his familiar without having to worry about it being whisked away by a great bird while he was off helping Ra. He also had time to prepare himself for whatever fallout was waiting for him. While Hades wasn't the most friendly person he had met, Set wasn't harboring any violent impulses towards him. Hades might have been the first person he had come to tolerate since his last lover. He nodded to himself while mentally concluding, _my wife can't scare this one off or kill him._ "I humbly request you allow me to stay in your home."

A long silence fell between them and Hades silently regarded Set. He didn't have to put much thought into declining. "No. I don't need you spawning a desert in my castle, nor do I want to get involved with whatever sibling quarrel you're having. I have had enough of that myself, thank you."

It suddenly dawned on Set that Isis might have been the one behind this, but he had left Osiris alone for quite some time and was putting minimal effort into destroying the balance. He didn't think she would have bore a grudge for this long. After all he had only dismembered his brother _once_ and he let her recover _almost _all of the pieces. His brother was just slightly less of a man now and if Set had comes to terms with it, Osiris could have too.

Set shook the rest of the sand from his hair and refocused his energy. Banishment was a lot different than teleportation. If he was locked here, it didn't mean his sand wasn't. All the grains of sand that had frustrated Hades for the past week were returned to wherever they had come from in the first place. "I won't start any storms in your castle or on your land unless explicitly instructed to." Set closed the distance between them and clasped one of Hades' bony hands in his own, slightly larger one. "I would greatly appreciate it and if you would ever happen to stumble into my realm, I would be more than happy to return the favor.

Hades' eyes darted to his hand before he pulled away and took a step back. "Don't touch me so casually."

Set gazed into Hades' eyes and he apologized. More or less. "I'm sorry, when I see someone as magnificent as you I can't help but want to reach out to them."

Hades' eyes widened in disbelief as the mischievous God before him smirked. Set didn't think Hades' would have been so receptive of his advances, but he thought they were working when Hades' explained, "I have a wife."

Set once again fell back on humility, this being one of the few times when he willingly swallowed his pride. Then again Hades knew nothing of his destructive ways so his past could come back to bite him in the ass. "She is a very lucky woman, I'm jealous."

Hades shrugged him off and sent Cerberus on its way, heading back to the castle. "She's not here so you can't harass her."

After Set placed his scorpion on the ground and telling it to behave, Set jogged after Hades, assuming he was, in fact, staying. "I wouldn't dream of ruining such a happy relationship."

"I never said that, but nonetheless I'm remaining faithful."

"So she could be having an affair?"

Hades shrugged, trying to remain aloof on the subject. He wanted to say as little as possible in hopes of getting Set to drop the subject. Set wasn't. He had no intention of doing so. If he didn't get what he wanted now he would only bring it up later in a more tactful and seeming senseless roundabout way that would be confusing to everyone but himself.

"It'd be a pity if she did. I like to think you should be happy as well. Death is important to maintaining the balance. So long as it isn't my wife, sister or brother killing me, I like to think I'd go quietly." This was lie. Set would go swearing and cursing everyone who had ever vexed him in life; but Hades was smart and wasn't too quick to accept what Set was trying to feed him. Although he did like hearing someone other than himself saying how important the natural order was.

Leaving out the pointless flattery, Hades agreed. "Now you're starting to make sense. Life has no meaning without death,"

Set nodded and stopped in front of Hades, a devilish smirk plastered across his face. "That's why you have to appreciate the little things."

Hades nodded slowly, and took a stem back from the troublesome God standing before him. Set bounded forward, balanced on his toes and grazed his teeth over Hades bottom lip before dropping to the floor again and wandering off as if nothing had happened in the first place. His hips swayed a little more than necessary as he pranced down the hallway, but that was the least of Hades' concerns. "Didn't I just say I wasn't interested?"

Set paused at a painting of a misty field with shadowy figures in the distance and explained, "I bit you, it's different. If you want a real kiss your going to have to beg me."

A rosy tint colored Hades' cheeks as he grew flustered and briskly walked after his new headache. "I don't beg."

Set let out a mournful sigh and glanced over to Hades as he stepped away from the wall and continued down the hall. "Then I guess you won't ever get one." After a pause he added, "If you behave, maybe I'll come back when you turn two thousand and give you one as a present."

"I don't want one."

Set pouted and turned, walking backwards so Hades could feel the full effect of his lazy glare. "You say that now, but I am _very_ good at persuasion."


End file.
